5 Steps to Learning Virtua Fighter

Any one of those would be fine. The key is do you think that character is cool. If this is true then anyone you pick up is a good choice. I play eileen because I thought monkey kung fu was cool. You just gotta like the character and you'll get good with them.

 

Cool. I'm asking mostly as Vanessa and Akira seem much more difficult to learn than Jeffery does. I think when I played VF4 a few times, there was even a difficulty rating on the character select screen.

 

I'm new to VF, so I've been trying to use this little guide, and I'm just feeling completely overwhelmed when I'm playing online. I'm sure it'll get better once I learn the flow of the game more, but right now, it just feels like I'm either constantly on defense, or I'm dead. I'm sure part of it is that I've been using Wolf, and he seems pretty slow, but I'm just not getting how people can constantly put the pressure on non-stop, or how I'm supposed to punish. I've tried side-stepping, but that never works. Tried to counterhit, but I get blown up with that, as well.

Also, my SF background makes me really throw happy. I know throws are supposedly vital to the game, but they seem REALLY bad, priority-wise. >_<

 

People put non-stop pressure on you by either using some attacks that give advantage on block, or by attacking while in disadvantage.
Example, X character has a 3 hits string, but the player only performs the first 2 attacks. Even though both hits were successful and not blocked, they are at frame disadvantage anyway.
If you expect them to not finish the string, you have to quickly attack, and you will successfully counter hit them if they decided to attack again.

VF is a turn-based game, my turn to attack, your turn to attack, my turn to attack. There are ways to steal a turn, but that's the general idea.
Some attacks give frame advantage on block. It can be confusing, but usually those attacks are easy enough to recognize, so you learn which attacks do that, and once you block them, you either keep blocking, evade, or use a sabaki/reversal.

I wrote the first reply in this thread and I'll quote it here because it might help you.

Anyway, counter hitting mindless mashers should not be too hard. Counter hitting strong players who decide to respect frames is very hard.
Personally I just quickly take note of what the other player does when I block his attacks. If they have a habit of attacking again, I go for the best counter hit I can use in the situation.

If they respect frames and either block or evade, that's when throws come in. Throws beat evade and guard, but they always lose to attacks.
For this reason, newbies who mash attacks endlessly are immune to throws.

Evading when you're getting pummeled by endless attacks is almost always a bad idea. After either blocking something or even getting hit, you usually have frame advantage, and the attacker usually has frame disadvantage. Evade only works when the evader is at frame disadvantage.

The basic tools to interrupt attacks are jabs ( strings), elbow (Wolf ) and the generic . I think you should get a feeling for what can and cannot be interrupted with those.
I would recommend going for the jab and mid elbow most of the time, because using too much will give you bad habits that will bite you in the ass later.

 

Pretty sure I've already gotten those bad habits since crouching punch is so awesome in Street Fighter. The idea of standing so much is a bit foreign to me, but I think I'm slowly getting it.

I'll be sure to try out some of those things when I get home from work tonight. Thanks!

 

So this past weekend me and a Soul Calibur were talking about movement is actually one of the hardest things for players, even coming for other 3D games have a hard time getting down, which usually includes "This game feels like I'm underwater/cement shoes/clunky "etc. etc. . How about putting a quick movement in the first post as well?


I feel that's the most important part of playing VF is now to move about. I've seen a lot o people coming from 2D games treating movement like a 2D fighter where they walk instead of dash and have a "WTF?!" look on their face.

 

Only circular strikes beat evading or throws too ?

 

Circular (and half-circular) attacks as well as throws beat evading in VF

However, there are other factors at play so it is not always cut and dry (for example, a failed evade can be dash cancelled, and the cancelling dash can be cancelled by Guard, so slow circular attacks can actually be blocked by someone using an advanced defensive technique that utilizes the above information).

But it's most important to first understand that yes, in general, the following rules apply in VF:

• Throws > evade
• Circular Attack > evade
• Half-Circular Attack > evade in the wrong direction (the directions being either the front or the back of the attacker).

Another important thing to know is that an appropriate evade is only successful when it is done during the execution (startup) frames of the opponent's attack. An evade input ("up, neutral" or "down, neutral") done without the opponent being in the execution phase of an attack will lead to a "failed evade." Because of this, in general (with some exceptions):

• Delayed Quick Attack > evade attempt (aka failed evade)

Learn these, but know that there are always exceptions... FS certainly has its share of exceptions (and advanced defensive techniques to replace simple evades)... but basics first ^_^

 

Thanks a lot man, very interesting!

 

I'm sorry but this guide is terrible. It has display issues in Internet Expl 9. It is not concise. If this guide is specifically for VF5FS, write that in the title of this article. STEP 4 is mistitled and introduces advanced terms (out of nowhere). This is a BASIC introduction. ''Yellow Light'' and ''Decisive Counterattacks'' (which are not explained) don't exist in previous versions. ''Counter 2 Choice Offensive'' is introduced without explanation of what it is in STEP 1.

It Seems this was translated from the original Japanese with the Google Translate online application. Retranslate this with a human adept at Japanese and who knows how to play the game. Rewrite this concisely and simplified aiming to inform both experienced fighting-game players and those who are unsure about learning the game. Delete all comments that were borne from the confusion generated by this article and/or all comments referencing other fighting systems and their terminology. And all comments talking about frames. There is plenty of that on the forums.

Thank You,

P.S. Sorry I'm a teacher and I am technically inclined. If you want your site to be useful and grow the community. There you go, Thank you and stay god-like.
HofHaH, One.

 

Another newbie here... Coming from Street Fighter, interested to learn VF5FS Brad or Jeffrey (not decided yet). To be honest, I am new to 3d fighters in general.

I already played around a lot with VF5, but it has not clicked yet. Online vs. friends I mostly loose to mash tactics, i.e. pushing buttons as fast as possible...

Anyway, i read this thread and believe I understand. Poking with P, 2P, 6P etc. in a turnwise manner depending on frame data. Proceeding as long as I get the anticipated advantage on hit or block, e.g. Brad: P (blocked; adv. +2 ) following up with 6P to beat out the opponents 2P leading to counter hit in the best case. But what now? I worked for counter hit frame advantage of +7, but this is still not enough advantage to convert this hit into combo damage (hitconfirm). So do I understand right, the ground game (mainly poking with different Ps) shall just open up to this "mix up" situation? Options then seems to be throw (can be OS teched) or safe combo starters, e.g. Brad 6P+K (can be evaded or blocked) or anti evade attacks... Meaning even though I worked for my opening, the opponent still needs to make a mistake (or wrong guess) to convert the gained advantage into damage. And after my failed attempt to "maximise" damage I will most likely be in disadvantage again, meaning switch to defense. And somewhere in between backdash and evade can reset the situation...

Or what do I miss here? Does this make sense at all?

The concept of baiting and whiff punishing is clear to me, but I am struggling with the neutral ground game and reward for advantageous situations.

Thank you in advance for any help...

 

You get the idea. One of the differences between SF and VF is you will very rarely encounter situations in which any damage is guaranteed. VF is much smarter than the ho-hum "block and punish" stuff. You and your opponent both need to make a decision at +7, but you are obviously in a very favorable situation.

I am not sure why you would be at disadvantage after maximizing damage, though. What do you mean by that?

 

"disadvantage after maximizing damage"

sorry that was misleading, I meant disadvantage after failed attempt of maximising damage, as we both need to take the decision or "guess". E.g. I decided for Brad's combo starter 6P+K which is -6 on block putting me to defense mode ... or evade gamble?

Thank you, now I see that the crucial point is not the gained advantage converting in guaranteed damage (SF wise), but the decision within this mix up situation.

 

Everything you do in VF is a gamble, and some gambles are bigger than others. Blocking is a gamble! Nevertheless, the players who pay attention and make good reads win matches. It may seem at first that with no (or at least very infrequent) guaranteed damage and with very risky combo starters, that VF is a slow game. And yet, how frequently do you ever see time-outs? And in VF, a match is only 45 seconds, 3/4th the time of most fighting game rounds.

At -6 you cannot crouch-dash fuzzy. But you can block, and you can evade. When you're blocking and when you're evading, you can escape throws with lazy TE and ETE. If your evade fails, you can cancel it with a dash and cancel the dash with a guard.

 

I'm going to try to rush this a bit since I'm at work, but here's a stab...

Once you've created a major advantage situation (you MC/Yellow-Flash your opponent with a basic poke or certain attacks and they are now at -6 ~ -9)...

You want to have an idea if your opponent is going to attack or defend... This situation should be happening a lot throughout a match, so you'll want to be either keeping track (ideal) or getting a sense (I suck at keeping track).

If you sense your opponent will attack, then you can attack with a not too slow mid-launcher. The risk is that it'll get blocked (but remember, your read or your guess is that your opponent will attack), the upside is that you'll have launched them and ideally will do a lot of damage to them if your guess is correct.

If you sense that your opponent will defend, then throwing is a good option (yes, even if it's not guaranteed, but if you were random about it, the odds are good you'd deal the damage). You can also guard break at the risk of them evading it or letting it hit them for a small loss to them (update: and if your guard-break is a high attack, you risk them ducking and punishing you).

That's pretty much it, and that's a common way to setup big damage in VF. Leverage your advantage, especially your major advantage situation, force a guessing game in a situation where you have the advantage.

Now... with regards to getting to know your opponent, there are a lot of factors to help your decisions become better informed.

If your opponent attacks, they are attacking out of turn for one of a few reasons...
1) They're afraid of your throws or are very sure that's what you will do here.
2) Because they simply attack too much (very likely).
3) Their attack might be a narrow counter to what they think you will attack them with (don't worry about this possibility until they've nailed you a couple times with it).

You can also opt to not use a risky launcher in the major advantage situation and instead use safer options (still generally preferably mid) to fish out your opponent's preferences and get a better sense of what they will do.

However, if your opponent was likely to attack out of turn at minor disadvantage, there is some evidence they will probably attack out of turn at major advantage unless they were using very narrow counter-attack options when doing so.

If your opponent uses advanced option-select defensive techniques, now you need to consider that they understand their turns, they understand that defensive techniques are the way to go when you are a major advantage. Throwing becomes a more valid option here.

If throwing feels like a guessing game though, why is it good against someone defending? The advantage is still in your court if you are less predictable with your throws. You can out throw your opponent either by moving around their preferred throw escape choice (out-reading them), out-guessing them on this part of the game, or being completely random.

In the Major Advantage situation, your opponent's options against throws are pretty limited to attack or input the throw escape. They don't have all the great defensive options that they had at your minor Advantage.

Anyways... I've gone long on this and no time (yet) to revise because I'm at work... But hope some of these thoughts help.

But yeah, the critical choice (and credit goes to Kamaage on Chibiaya's podcast months ago for putting it down so elegantly), you really only have to ask yourself the question: "Will they attack or defend?"

This question is applied generally, but Major Advantage is a great place to apply it consistantly ^_^

(Random Aside: Spacing matters in VF also, but it's hard to get far in spacing if you are not decently strong at the in-fighting in VF also).

 

Awesome article. Is there any problem if I translate it to portuguese (I will give credits to Akai, Myke and VFDC on it)?

 

I would like to know what to do at specific advantages and disadvantages. In the wiki, Japanese/other players that write the guides casually mention doing x attack (elbow, etc) class at y atvantage. So when should I do what?

Also, in your post you mention:
- small advantage use common 2-choice offense
- medium advantage use counter 2-choice offense (not to be mistaken with reverse nitaku term)
- large advantage use decisive counterattacks for guaranteed damage

Define "counter 2 choice".
Define "desisive counterattack", Do you mean "use a garanteed attack"?

A lot of these things aren't really solidified as common fact for players so this would help a lot. :| Disseminating this information more in guides would also help. I think that is a huge problem with vf in the states and elsewhere- communicating the meta effectively to new players.

 

Go for Elbow after P, lands whether it's blocked, hits or counter hits. P puts at a small advantage, but just enough to where the the Elbow will land as a Counter Hit, if the opponent tries to fire back with a P or 2P of their own.

 

Didn't check what wording the original guide uses but

I'd presume this means an advantage where you can use fast mids (like the elbows, most characters have that at 6P and it's 14f, usually the fastest mid) to beat the opponents strikes, but you don't have enough advantage to use your more damaging counter hit combo starters as they can get interrupted.

I'd figure this means that you are in a nitaku-situation. At +6 or better the opponent can't use fuzzy guard to duck under your throws so they basically have use an attack if they want to avoid the throw. You are also at big enough advantage to use your counter hit launchers without getting interrupted.

EDIT: Reverse nitaku is when you are put at this disadvantage and you decide to use an attack (preferably a big launch) when you think the opponent will try to use throws.

Guaranteed attack, yes. If you are at +10 then no attacks are guaranteed but you get a throw attempt.

Have you tried the wiki?
http://virtuafighter.com/wiki/index/

Not sure if there's a glossary here somewhere. I sure can understand how elbow-class, upper class, knee class, nitaku abare etc. etc. can get a bit confusing in the JP guides.